The Broken Pieces of Us
by NorthernStar
Summary: A life created from a mix of Torchwood DNA, a lonely SOS in the darkness and a link to the Rift that could destroy Cardiff... Chap 5 - a storm rages over Cardiff as Emma's link to the Rift strenghtens.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Title: The Broken Pieces of Us

Author: NorthernStar

Rating: PG (this chapter. Rating may change.)

Characters: Team Torchwood

Timeline: Shortly before _Reset_

Pairings: As canon. Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Unrequited Tosh/Owen, etc…

Summary: A mix of Torchwood DNA, a life linked to the rift and a dying child…

Warnings: Dodgy science (this is Torchwood) violence (this is Torchwood) m/m relationships (this is Torchwood) you might be expecting twee-ness, given the subject matter, but this is Torchwood, right?

Notes: This has festered in my brain for weeks and I tried to resist. I don't want to write fanfic any more, damn it!

**The Broken Pieces of Us**

_By NorthernStar_

**--1--**

The Plas was wet, slick with water, but at least the rain had finally stopped. A bitter wind came from the bay, blowing in with the tide. His great coat would have offered some protection from the cold, but he had left it behind in the Hub. It didn't matter. Jack welcomed the biting cold.

His wrist strap bleeped again, but he ignored it. He'd stopped looking hours ago; there was no message.

He knew that now.

Jack closed his eyes and listened. Gulls crying in the distance, the waves crashing, wind whipping through the buildings, far off traffic…

There was nothing but those sounds and the cold. The bitter chill reminding him that he still alive, still _real_…

"Penny for your thoughts, sir."

He opened his eyes at Ianto's voice and flashed a grin. "They're worth a whole lot more than that."

Ianto held out his great coat and Jack slipped it on. The warmth he now felt not entirely due to the thick fabric surrounding him.

_Bleep._

Ianto frowned down at Jack's wrist.

"Is that a message?"

"No." Jack looked away, eyes scanning the distance. "It's an SOS."

* * *

Tosh's fingers froze on the keypad and she turned to the screen at her side. The gentle spikes that tracked the activity of the Rift had suddenly skittered into jags and the console began to beep an urgent warning.

"Tosh?"

She looked over at Gwen. "It's the Rift." She yelled back. "It's wide open!"

Gwen immediately put her hand to ear and yelled, "Jack, get down here!" into the comm.

The alarms snapped off as abruptly as they had begun. The spikes had returned to normal.

Gwen came over, looking at the screen. "It's gone."

Tosh tapped at the keys. "The Rift has closed but…" she pointed at a thickness on the line of the graph, "something's changed."

Jack ran for the entrance, with Ianto a half-step behind. They reached the "Tourist Information" almost at the same time, but Jack ducked in ahead of Ianto and ground to a halt.

Ianto pulled up sharp, narrowly avoiding crashing into Jack. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong when he saw the reason Jack had stopped.

There was a large open sports bag in the doorway, filled with what looked like white linen.

Ianto went forward.

"Don't touch it." Jack said.

Ianto nodded and knelt down, leaning forward cautiously to peer into the bag.

Inside was a sleeping baby, swaddled in white sheets.

"I think we'd better call social services."

Jack got out his gun and pointed it at the bag. He waved Ianto away.

"Jack it's a baby."

"That's what we thought last time." He got out a scanner and held it out. After he'd checked the readings, he put away his gun. "It's safe."

Ianto's face remained passive. "I'm relieved to hear that, sir."

* * *

"Owen, I've got a patient for you!"

The doctor looked up from his notes as Jack put a sports bag onto the autopsy bed. A whiney noise came from inside followed by the _la-la-la_ cry of a newborn.

Owen sighed, "Jack, tell me that's not what I think it is. The last one nearly chewed my ear off."

"It's not alien, it's a _human_ baby."

The look on Owen's face made it clear he didn't think that was much of an improvement. But he got his stethoscope anyway and leaned over the crying baby.

He carefully loosened the swaddling. Something dropped from the blankets but he paid it no mind and laid the stethoscope against the child's naked chest.

Ianto frowned and delicately picked the object up, careful not to interfere with Owen's examination. He held it up. It was a fine square of translucent plastic.

Jack snatched it from him.

"_DNA verified_." The square emitted a silky voice. "_Message begins_…" and a hologram shot from the square, projecting up an image about three feet high.

It was Captain John Hart. And in his arms, he held the swaddled baby.

"_So you found her. Knew you would."_ He grinned. "_Actually she's an it, not a her. That's one of the things that went wrong. But family's family._" He gently pulled back the swaddling, until the child's face was clear. "_She's you, Jack. She's all of you. I made her from your combined DNA that you injected in me._" He shrugged. "_Thought she might come in useful_."

Jack was aware that the team had gone silent and still.

"_But she's broken. The Rift affected the DNA, damaged it somehow_." The smile never left his face. "_She's linked to the Rift now, like a part of it. It's made her cells unstable. You can't stop the deterioration. She's dying, Jack. And so is the Rift_."

The message snapped off.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**--2--**

Owen had forced everyone out of the autopsy room so he could give the baby a physical in peace, or at least in as much peace as he could considering the thing didn't shut up.

Everyone else crowded around Tosh's station to discuss the strange spike in the Rift and the possibility that John was right and the child was somehow linked to it. Snatches of their conversation filtered down to him as he checked the baby over but he was mostly too busy to give it much thought.

No-one mentioned the other piece of information John had given them – that this was _their_ child. But he knew it was on their minds. It was certainly on his.

Owen paused a minute, hands either side of the baby and _looked_. Was that trace of pigment in her skin a shadow of the pleasing colour of Tosh's? Were those...Gwen's ears?

Then he shook the thoughts from his head and returned to checking the baby's hips for dislocation, a possibility if the child had been a breach birth, presuming of course, that she'd actually been _born_ and not cooked up in some space-age microwave.

The idea made him grin.

The child stopped wailing, responding to the change in his features.

She smiled back.

"Fuck." He murmured.

* * *

They gathered in the board room, with the baby returned to its sports bag and placed in the centre of the table. Tosh was nearest, and was casting uncertain, worried looks at it.

Owen was beside the screen, where most of his test results were displayed. "She's human," he told them, "100, nothing genetically to set her apart from any other baby."

Jack glanced at the bag. "I hear a but coming."

Owen nodded. "But she's growing at an accelerated rate."

"That's impossible surely." Gwen said.

"Not for some alien offspring."

"But you said she was human."

"I didn't say I can explain it. Look, when Jack brought her to me, I estimated she was about 3 weeks old. But then she smiled at me."

Blank faces.

"Babies smile by the time they're 6 weeks old. When I re-examined her, she was closer to 6 weeks." He looked at the screen and pointed. "So I ran some scans at cellular level using that baton shaped thing Tosh found on E-bay last month. It confirmed what I thought. She's ageing. And at the rate her cells are renewing themselves, I'd say she'll age around six months every 24 hours."

"Is that what John meant?" Tosh asked. "That she's dying because she's growing too fast."

"I don't know."

"Is she…I mean, do you know if…she's ours?" Gwen asked.

"I took a sample of her blood to run a DNA test on her." Owen said. "I haven't done it yet."

"Do it. We need to know." Jack's voice was harsh. "Until then, we work on the assumption that John was lying."

"Why would he do that?" Gwen protested. "What could he possibly gain from it?"

"Unease." Jack told her. "Mistrust."

"Distraction." Ianto added.

"He's not lying." Owen's voice was uncharacteristically soft. He gestured at the baby. "I'd know Gwen's ears anywhere."

Gwen had the decency to blush.

"OK, so she's human, she's ours, and she's ageing." Jack summed up. "What else?"

"Well for a start she's not really a girl. She's not a boy either."

"Like a hermaphrodite?"

"No, there's no sign of male or female genitalia. So in the absence of anything dangling, 'she' seems it fit better than he."

Jack held up his hand. "She needs a name." He cut in. "We can't just keep calling her she or the baby."

"Aikya." Ianto said. "It's Sanskrit. It means unity."

"It also sounds like the place we buy furniture." Jack pointed out.

"What about Kijakazi?"

Jack threw Ianto a look. "That sounds like a toilet."

"It means 'You owe your life to us.'"

"OK, it's appropriate. But it's not happening."

"What about Emma?" Gwen suggested. "I always liked the name Emma."

"All-containing." Ianto supplied. "Also appropriate." Then caught their looks. "It's a hobby."

"Anyway, moving on," Owen cut in, "Emma," and he cast a grin at Gwen, who then looked pleased, "is completely devoid of gender physically, although she does have a Y chromosome, presumably from me, Jack and Ianto. It's possible that'll kick in a some point, in which case we might have to start calling her Emmit." He put up a hand. "And no, Ianto, I don't give a monkey's arse what that means."

"Is she - Is Emma linked to the Rift?" Jack asked.

Owen shrugged.

Jack looked across the table. "Tosh?"

She looked down at her lap, shaking her head.

"Gwen?"

"There's nothing to go on, Jack." She said.

"Just John's word." He pointed out.

"Can we trust him?"

"Can we afford not too?"

Tosh made a distressed noise, bringing the discussion to a halt.

Jack frowned at her. She had remained silent for almost the whole briefing. "Tosh?"

"Can we save her?" She demanded loudly. The noise woke the sleeping baby and she began to fret. "That's what we're all thinking, isn't it?" Tosh looked around at their faces and then right at Owen. "Can you save her?"

It took a moment for him to speak, for him to hide the pain from his eyes. "I'll run some more tests."

Tosh got up. "Excuse me." She said and hurried out.

Owen avoided their gazes and grabbed the straps of the sports bag.

Jack watched Owen carry the fretting baby in its bag back to the autopsy room and frowned. "We'll need some supplies. Gwen, you and Tosh go to Mothercare, buy what we need."

"Me?" Gwen protested. "That's Ianto's job!"

"Coffee yes, pizza definitely." Jack told her. "This is more your area."

"You can be such a bloody chauvinist, Jack Harkness!"

"This isn't about you!" Jack snapped. "Tosh can do with some time-out, so raid the petty cash and take her _out_."

They stared at each other.

Then Gwen relented, or at least, stopped protesting. She stomped out the room leaving Jack and Ianto staring at the results on the screen.

* * *

"Here."

Jack turned at Ianto's voice. He was still staring at the data from the Rift. It was uncharacteristically silent and still. Something about that bothered Jack.

He took the coffee Ianto held out and swallowed a sip, marvelling at how the young man seemed to be able to make not only the perfect cup, but present it at the just the right temperature so that it was neither too hot or too cold.

"Are Tosh and Gwen back yet?"

"No." Jack could read a slight pang in his voice. "I had to run out and get some nappies."

"Oh, well don't look at me."

"Owen's changing her."

"_Owen?_"

"Three months on a children's ward apparently."

Jack lapsed into silence, eyes returning to the scrolling words on the screen.

"Tosh is right, you know." Ianto finally said. "We do need to save her."

Jack continued to stare at the data, letting the numbness of facts and figures fill his mind.

"We need to save her," Ianto repeated softly, "because she's our daughter."

But Ianto could always pull him back, pull him away. _Damn._

Jack laid a hand against Ianto's cheek. "I know."

tbc

* * *

Author's note – all the names quoted here are real, as are their meanings and taken from . I just meant for a name with an appriopriate meaning for an _Ianto__ Knows Everything_ moment, but the results provided turned it into what I hope was an amusing one instead.


	3. Chapter 3

**--3--**

As it was a Wednesday, Cardiff's St David's Centre was relatively quiet, as was the large Mothercare that Gwen and Tosh found themselves in. They, or rather Gwen, whose close friend recently had a baby, had come up with a list of things they needed during the ride over, deciding what was worth buying, given the rate of Emma's growth, and what wasn't. Tosh had been mostly silent, only venturing an opinion when asked.

In the large store, the confusing array of baby things annoyed Gwen almost as much as the staff, who kept pestering her with 'can I help?' and 'are you looking for anything in particular?' type questions which were met with increasingly terse 'no's.

The first thing they bought was a cot. Gwen was familiar with the travel cot her mate had and decided that was best for the Hub as it would likely need to be moved around a great deal.

Tosh disappeared while Gwen was picking out blankets and when she came back her arms were full of toiletries, far more than was probably needed, but Gwen really didn't care.

At the checkout, the girl politely pointed out that there was a discount on Nuk products this week so did they need any bottles as the price was very reasonable? Gwen and Tosh looked at each other, then at the pile of goods on the counter, none of which would be any use to feed Emma. Well pizza was out…

"Yes." Gwen said.

So bottles and a steriliser were added at the last minute and they prepared to leave the shop. As they passed the racks of tiny baby clothes, they both stopped and stared at the rows of little cardigans and trousers.

Gwen sighed. "Bloody hell."

They began to wander through the racks of tiny outfits, picking out a range of sizes, tutting over the outrageous prices for such small scraps of fabric. Perhaps it was brain washing, or Gwen thought, rolling her eyes, possibly hormones but after a few minutes, the little bits and bobs began to look appealing and Gwen found herself smiling.

Tosh finally spoke. "Have you ever thought about having kids?"

Gwen's face fell. "It's not really an issue anymore, Tosh."

"You're getting married."

"And I work for Torchwood."

"You could still-"

"No, Tosh." She cut in. "I can't."

Tosh fell silent and Gwen moved away from her. She didn't like the line of questioning. If forced her to think, really think, about her future and everything it _wasn't_ going to be. It wasn't like she was at a cross roads anymore, it wasn't about taking one choice over the other. That had already happened, before she'd even known that taking one road meant the other was no longer an option.

* * *

Ianto winced at the constant noise coming from the sports bag as he put a cup of freshly brewed coffee next to Owen, who was busy with test results and seemingly unaffected by the wailing.

The baby's cries were louder than before and when Ianto peered into the sports bag, he could easily see why. Emma was a little, but still noticeably, bigger than before.

Her face was red and angry and scrunched up and her limbs were flailing about.

Ianto frowned. "Is she all right?"

Owen didn't look up from his work. "She's hungry."

"Are you sure?"

"Might have had a shit again. If you want to check, be my guest."

Ianto peered a little closer. No, Jack didn't pay him enough for that… "You should…hold her or something."

"I'm working."

Ianto cautiously reached out and gave the bag a wiggle, trying to rock her, hissing an uncertain "shhh…" at her. The wail only got louder.

Owen swore under his breath and got up. He grabbed Ianto's arm, pulled it out and bending it at the elbow, arranging it as if he were holding an invisible baby. "Don't move." He demanded, then quickly scooped up the baby and laid her into the space he'd made in Ianto's arm. Ianto went stiff and did his best to ignore the squirming in his arms.

"Your hands clean?" Owen asked.

Ianto only gave him a withering look.

The doctor then took Ianto's free hand, bent the little finger and moved it towards Emma.

He tried to counter Owen's move, but with Emma in his arms it wasn't easy to resist without running the risk of dropping her. "Owen…"

Owen pushed the knuckle of Ianto's little finger into Emma's mouth and the noise immediately shut up as she began to suck. The feeling of her tough gums working on his skin was vaguely creepy but he did his best to ignore it.

"Happy now?" Owen asked.

Ianto remained frozen where he was.

Owen returned to his work.

* * *

Jack watched Ianto and Owen, hiding a smile. He glanced at the time and frowned. Gwen and Tosh should be back by now. There was work to do. They needed answers.

He felt a vague sense of urgency in his gut, although he didn't know why. It felt like the static in the air before a violent storm. Perhaps it had nothing to do with Emma or the Rift; perhaps it was the Doctor…

The strap on his wrist bleeped softly again, almost as if the SOS was taunting him, reminding him that there was some things he had no means of getting answers from.

* * *

The supplies were dumped in the centre of the Hub and both Gwen and Tosh returned to the Rift readings. From the look Gwen gave Jack it was clear that her womanly responsibilities had been fulfilled by buying the stuff. Someone else could do the rest.

Jack had set up the cot in his office with Ianto's help. It wasn't practical for Emma to leave the Hub until they knew she was safe so she would be living here with him whether he liked it or not. Jack also moved most of the supplies in there as well and they littered his desk like something out of the movie _Three Men and a Baby_. They only items that were not there was the carton of formula and the bottles which Owen had scooped up and disappeared with. And from the silence, Jack guessed the baby was finally getting food.

He was still trying to bring order to the mess when Gwen's voice rang out.

"Jack!"

He left the office and went to stand at her side.

She pointed at the graph that monitored the energy bleeding from the Rift even when it was stable. There was a jittery quality to the line. "It started a few minutes ago."

"I've never seen anything like that." Tosh said. "But whatever it is, it's getting worse."

* * *

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

**--4--**

Jack walked softly through the Hub. He enjoyed the silence when everyone had gone home. It was one of the reasons he lived here, cut off from the rest of the world. The other was, of course, that someone _had_ to be here, with so many aliens in the cells, inmates at H.M.P Torchwood.

There was one more tonight.

He looked down at the baby in his arms. She gazed up at him with large brown eyes.

Still not asleep…

He jiggled her some more and wandered through the board room. The Rift readings were still scrolling across the main screen and he stopped to stare at them.

His mind pulled him back at few hours, to Tosh explaining her interpretation of the various spikes on the graph, spouting long words about the physics of Time and Space and Jack had seen from the faces of the others in the room that she'd long since lost them.

"Think of the Rift like a leaky roof," he had told them. "Most of the time, it just drips. Sometimes when it rains heavy, lots of water comes through."

"Such as when the Rift is most active." Tosh had put in. Jack could tell that somewhere under all that professionalism she was a little annoyed at having Jack take over.

"And this…" Jack had gestured to the readings, "is like someone stuffed a whole wad paper in the hole. It'll stop the rain getting in for now but as some point, they'll be too much water behind it and…" he had made a splashing motion with his hands.

"We all get wet." Gwen had added helpfully.

"We need to trace whatever it is that's blocking it." He had told them. "And stop it. Before Cardiff gets drenched."

Tosh had then reeled off on _how_ they could trace it and what sort of equipment could be adapted into a portable version of the computers monitoring the Rift.

It was Gwen was asked the question they were probably all thinking. "Do you think it's Emma?"

"That's a possibility." Jack admitted. "Owen, have you learned anything else about her?"

"Well she's definitely ours. I did a DNA test and the results are a bit weird, but the genes are from us."

There was a heavy silence.

"Which is ironic really," Owen continued. "12 years of safe sex and I still end up lumbered with a kid."

"Anything else?"

The doctor had shaken his head. "Nah. Couple of tests'll have to wait 'til she's bigger."

"We might not have that luxury."

"I know."

Conversation had then turned to the possibilities of their failing to find the cause and how it might affect Cardiff. Safest option might be mass evacuation, but that would take time.

Emma wiggled and made a little noise of annoyance, bringing him back to the here and now and Jack took the hint and started walking her again.

His steps took him back through the Hub, so still and empty now that he could hear the trickle of water beneath his feet.

The baby still didn't sleep.

* * *

Gwen lay awake. Rhys snored softly at her side, completely unaware.

He had noticed there was something wrong when she got back home, but she'd told him it was just the combination of a headache and a really long day. He accepted her explanation so readily.

He always did.

She told herself she was sparing his feelings, because if he knew about Emma, about a baby that was the nearest thing to being Gwen's daughter, he would want to see her.

He would want to be part of her life.

And he would want to be _here_, with them.

Gwen wasn't ready for that. She didn't want a glimpse into everything she'd lost and everything she now couldn't have because of Torchwood.

About 6 months into her relationship with Rhys she had fallen pregnant. Rhys had been stunned, but when the shock had worn off, he'd began making plans – Gwen would have to give up that silly idea about becoming a copper and he'd leave college and go to work for his mates dad. They'd get married and apply for a council house and while they waited for one, they could live with his parents.

It had just been too much.

So Gwen had told the first ever lie she'd ever told Rhys – that her pregnancy had just been a false-alarm and she'd quietly gone for an abortion without his knowing.

She often wondered, if she hadn't have been so deceitful back then at the beginning, she wouldn't be so easy with lying to Rhys now. But she rarely regretted it.

Only sometimes.

Like now…

Gwen turned onto her side, facing away from Rhys and cried.

* * *

Owen flopped back onto the bed, hair still dripping from the shower. He'd spent a good half hour under the steaming streams of water and yet he could still smell it on his skin.

Baby stink.

It reminded him of his first year as a medical student and this single mum he'd dated. God she'd been gorgeous, but even after she'd put on the expensive perfume he gave her, he could still smell that peculiarly sweet mix of baby-vomit, breast-fed baby-poo, baby powder and curdled milk that had clung to her skin.

Bloody off-putting, it was.

He sniffed himself again, just to be sure.

He could still smell it. And he hadn't a hope of getting some kip while he did.

He opened the drawer in his bedside cabinet, pushed aside the packets of condoms, the bottle of Astroglide and the medical journal he was reading to pull out his prescription pad.

He _was_ going to get some sleep tonight. Even if he had to prescribe himself some Tamazipam to do it.

* * *

Ianto took Jack's coffee into his office and put it on his desk. Jack didn't look up to offer any surprise that Ianto was here so early or any thanks, not that Ianto was expecting any. He never did.

But that didn't mean it wouldn't be nice to hear, once in a while.

Jack reached out to take the coffee. The motion pulled the cuff of his shirt up, revealing his wrist strap. It was blinking now, in Morse code.

_Dot, dot, dot, dash, dash, dash, dot, dot, dot_… over and over again.

SOS.

Jack caught Ianto's gaze and covered the signal.

"You haven't told the others, have you?"

Jack gave no reply. He simply returned to his writing.

Ianto paused a moment, aware of the travel cot pushed against one wall. From the odd snuffles coming from inside, he guessed the baby was awake. He wanted to look at her, but couldn't bear the thought of making her cry.

"She's got your cheekbones." Jack said.

Ianto straightened.

Jack got up and came over. "You've got great cheekbones."

He took Ianto's face in his hands and gently began kissing along the delicate structure he'd just admired.

Even before the stopwatch came out, Ianto had forgotten all about the SOS.

TBC

_

* * *

_

Is anyone still reading??


	5. Chapter 5

**--5--**

Rain pelted against the Honda's windscreen. Visibility was down to only a few feet, despite the rapid swish of the wipers and the bright burn of the headlights. Owen was forced to creep the car along at a speed best reserved for walking, swearing softly under his breath.

He was already late. He'd slept right through the alarm, thanks to the Tamazipam in his system and he'd finally woken, groggy-headed, when Jack phoned. Even with a clear head, he wouldn't have understood what the man was yelling as most of his conversation was drowned out by high-pitched wailing.

The cry of _pain_; something was wrong with Emma.

The sudden dread of that realisation, and the resulting rush of adrenaline, had at least swept the cobwebs from his head and after hastily dressing; he'd ran out to his car. He'd been drenched by the time he got behind the wheel.

He was still uncomfortable wet now, even with the heating turned to full blast.

Lightening split the sky overhead and a second later, a clap of thunder crashed overhead. Somewhere in the distance, a car alarm screeched to life.

Owen swore again, drumming his fingers on the wheel.

How much longer was this going to take?

* * *

Ianto Jones was wondering the exact same thing. He was walking up and down the Hub with Emma, jigging her about and trying not to wince at the noise coming from her. She had Jack's mouth. And like the man himself, she certainly knew how to use it.

Jack had dumped the baby on him when the captain could no longer take the wailing. He'd tried to give her to Gwen first, but the woman had backed away with a "don't even bloody think about it!" And Tosh had just said "no" in an uncharactically firm manner, refusing to take her eyes off her computer screens or to cease typing.

So Ianto had been left with her. He'd tried waving a rattle at her, but the baby had only grasped it in her little hand and continued bawling in an increasingly raspy and horse cry. The only difference it made was when her limbs waved about in agitation she could now actually hurt him, as a good whack to the side of his nose with the rattle proved.

He'd taken it away.

Emma had wailed even louder.

He had given it back.

But the wailing never stopped.

"Where the bloody hell is that dummy I bought?" Gwen yelled at him.

"Owen threw it away." Tosh told her.

Ianto frowned. "He had medical objections to their use."

"I've got fucking _mental_ objections!" Gwen snapped back. "To that bloody racket!"

Ianto moved as far away from Gwen as possible, not for her sake, but for Emma's. He doubted that kind of language was helping matters.

With a sigh, he transferred her to his other arm, noticing as he did so that the shoulder of his immaculately pressed suit was now damp and covered in snot. He turned and began walking her in a little circle, uttering hushes and humming and rocking her.

The cog wheel rolled back, revealing a soaked Owen.

He had never, in all the time he'd been at Torchwood Three, been so glad to see Owen. Or any of his colleagues for that matter.

Owen stalked past Jack and Ianto caught the appreciation in his Jack's eyes at the way Owen's wet clothes clung to his skin. He wondered if Owen noticed. And if his own annoyance was as well concealed as he hoped.

The doctor reached Ianto and went to take Emma.

He didn't understand his own reluctance, but suddenly parting with the squalling baby was the last thing he wanted to do so he stepped away. "You're wet."

"Thanks for that piece of information, Ianto." Owen muttered as he made another grab for the screaming baby.

Ianto avoided him. "You'll make her cold."

Owen sighed loudly then stripped off his T shirt. He dropped it on the floor where it landed with a wet slap. Ianto tried to ignore the puddle it was making as it lay there, a puddle he no doubt would have to clean up later.

Owen then went to the rack, grabbed his white coat and shrugged it on.

"OK?"

Ianto handed him the baby.

"Thank you." He muttered sarcastically and began walking towards to the autopsy room. "Milk, two sugars." He called back.

It was a good thing he had his back to Ianto and didn't see what the young man was mouthing.

* * *

"Jack, I think you should see this!"

Gwen's voice was almost lost under the sound of Emma's crying that echoed up from the autopsy room. Not for the first time, she wished it had a door, then they'd at least have some break from the incessant wailing.

Jack came over to her. She was standing at Tosh's side and they were both studying Tosh's computer screen where both the Met Office weather readings for Cardiff and the graph of Rift activity were displayed.

"This storm isn't like anything we've seen before." Tosh told him. "There's a definite correlation in the electrical spectrums of both the storm and the Rift. Some of Cardiff's weather conditions have been affected by the Rift before, but not on this scale. This is a low pressure that formed spontaneously in the last few hours."

"What we're saying," Gwen summed up, "is that the storm is being caused by whatever is happening to the Rift."

"And there's something else…" Tosh added and she pointed to the time indexes for both of the graphs and then she tapped up the internal CCTV, which showed Emma crying in her cot. "The storm began building the moment Emma started crying."

"John was right, Jack." Gwen said. "They're connected."

* * *

"How is she?"

Owen looked up to see Jack leaning over the railings, gazing down at Emma, who lay in the middle of autopsy table surrounded by rolled up blankets. Her eyelids were in the process of fluttering closed. It had taken over an hour before the Hub was quiet again and the silence, when it came, was almost as deafening as the noise had been.

"Teething." He said.

Jack frowned. "Teething? There's a storm over Cardiff because she's getting _teeth_?"

"And she's growing at an accelerated rate…"

"She's getting all her teeth in the same day." Jack finished, understanding. He came down the steps and moved to stand beside the autopsy table. He smiled down at the sleeping child.

"I gave her a low dose painkiller." Owen told him. "It's made her sleepy so if she's causing the storm, it should let up at least til she's awake."

"I'll warn the emergency services." He said, as he gently lifted Emma and carried her up the steps.

Owen yawned and slumped down in front of his computer. Then he tapped up Emma's file and began to work.

* * *

Jack put Emma in the cot and tucked her up. She took up even more space than the last time she'd been in there and Jack took a moment to take in all the changes in her now that she was quiet. Her hair was starting to grow and from the tufts he could see it, he could tell the shade would be brown, which wasn't surprising given that they all had dark hair.

John was right. They did need a blonde.

Those cheekbones were definitely Ianto's. He'd know them anywhere, even hidden under baby fat. Emma's nose and general face shape favoured Tosh, as did the faint barely there honeyed tint of her skin. She had Owen's eyes and lashes and of himself… He could see nothing, although Ianto assured him Emma's mouth was his.

He switched on the baby monitor and returned to the main Hub, where Ianto was quietly and efficiently going from station to station with a tray of steaming coffees, teas and cappuccinos.

Jack received his own coffee, took a swallow and came to stand beside Gwen, who pointed up at her screen, which showed the CCTV image of the Bay.

"The rain stopped about half an hour ago," she told him. "And the winds died down shortly after Emma fell asleep."

"It won't last."

Gwen cast a nervous look at Jack's office, where Emma was sleeping. "I know."

"Jack?"

He turned at Tosh's call and moved to her side.

"I've been getting reports of animal attacks all over the city." Tosh said, "so I called up some of the CCTV images of the affected areas. Look." She pushed the screen round and Jack saw it was covered in a number of black and white CCTV images in a grid of squares, all showing different parts of the city. But in each individual square had something in common, they each captured the image of a similar figure.

Jack's face remained still. "Weevils."

"The energy from the Rift is making them more active." Tosh told him.

Gwen got up. "I'll check the cells."

"No. Emma's sleeping. That's bought us some time." Jack said as he began for the door. "Let's not waste it. Gwen, Ianto, with me. We're going weevil hunting. Tosh, keep monitoring the Rift. Owen, stay with Emma."

The doctor had already started for the door. He stopped. "What!"

"We don't have time to argue, Owen."

"I'm not the fucking babysitter."

"No, you're a doctor." He slapped the baby monitor into Owen's hand. "Emma's your patient. If you want something to do, check on the weevils downstairs. If things get out of hand, their containment will be a priority."

The door rolled shut behind them.

* * *

The SUV swerved and skidded on the wet ground. The weevil they were chasing had headed onto a playing field and the SUV tires were busily tearing great chunks out of the immaculately mowed grass.

Finally the creature reached the end of the field, where a large fence had trapped the alien. It snarled as Jack leapt out, tranquiliser gun in his grip.

Ianto and Gwen abandoned the vehicle too, spreading out to cut off the things escape.

The weevil snarled and snapped.

They closed in.

The creature swiped at Gwen, knocking her back. Ianto put out an arm to catch her and in that moment's worth of distraction, the weevil leapt smartly up, clawed at the wire until it had pulled itself up and over the fence. It dropped to the ground on the other side and headed out for the road.

Jack and Ianto leapt after it, although their scaling of the fence was a lot less agile, while Gwen got back into the SUV, shoved it into reverse with a terrible grinding noise, gunned the engine and began making more ruts in the playing field.

Jack and Ianto, meanwhile, were sprinting to keep up with the weevil. Although it was no longer raining, the heavy black clouds limited the light and even the alien's hundred yard advantage was making it hard to spot in the gloom.

They ran along the pavement, using what little light that came from the passing cars' headlights to keep track of the fast moving weevil. There was a sharp corner approaching and they both put on a burst of speed, fearing that if they lost sight of the creature when it turned, they'd loose it forever.

At the corner, it made a sudden, unexpected turn _across_ the road, right into the traffic.

They dashed into the road after it.

Ianto's foot slipped on the wet curb and he wobbled, stumbling to a halt.

A car came round the corner.

Brakes squealed.

"IANTO!"

A wall of pain crashed over him and everything went black.

* * *

TBC...


End file.
